Summery Of Forty Rules Of Love By Elif Shafak

  

As i mentioned in few previous posts that i am not a smart buyer of books specially when i have to choose among random piles (not totally random actually but not well organized) .When i have to choose many while keeping in mind that it is a rare opportunity (once in a year) to buy books because our small city has no book shop which has collection of international books though Sukkur (25 km)  has few but due to be much crowded it seems impossible to stay in shop for long . The books i had bought during our December trip to Karachi were mixture of fiction and scientific research work by different authors .Among which i found one  beautiful novel two weeks ago.

 " Forty Rules of love " by Turkish best seller writer Elif Shafak . It is an enchanting book written skillfully about love in the light of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz .

Sharing Summery below taken from here

Love is the most important theme in the novel and it appears in

many forms, each bleeding into the next. The first and most fundamental love in the narrative is self-love and, in that way, self-acceptance; this is most clearly demonstrated through the way that Ella moves about the world. Downtrodden and unhappy in her daily life and in her marriage, Ella seems to be at the whims of her family and does not appear to do anything for herself. Because she does not appreciate herself and her uniqueness, and because she blames things like her husband’s string of affairs on herself, Ella is unable to appreciate those things that make her desirable until she explores the Sufi teachings she learns about in Sweet Blasphemy.

By making herself receptive to the type of love she encounters in the novel, Ella allow goes through a powerful transformation. She eventually learns to love herself, and in doing so, extends this love outside of herself. She in turn accepts her daughter’s engagement instead of viewing it as a failed attempt at love, she values herself more and ends her toxic marriage, and she falls in love with Aziz, the author of Sweet Blasphemy.

When i started this i was specially consumed by it's divinity and depth used through the phrases of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz .I have not read any book about two of these enlightening Sufis until now but after reading this i think i will try to find some nice books on their philosophy.

In this book Narration type is "self" and each character comes and speaks his mind ,which makes it easy to grasp. The definition of forty rules of love seem best explanation of what is love all about actually .Author shares the seven states of transformation of our ego go through and we attain pure self a altered higher level of consciousness which encounter with ultimate reality and Oneness. But because the path is hardest only few mange to achieve in a century.

I think this is worth reading for those who believe or want to believe in love !

A Disagreement With Personal Opinion On "Moralized Character "

 I was reading chapter 19 from the book "The force of character" by James Hillman and i started to feel uncomfortable with the writer's point of view. I though have enjoyed rest of the chapters which put light on last years of one's life and all the possible thoughts ,feelings and behaviors about it .At the end of each chapter writer speaks his mind very nicely which i found very impressive. But what writer says in the chapter nineteen is confusing and disturbing to some extent.

I consider myself a student who wants to learn things in life in order to improve it. So what i am going to say here is completely my own opinion based on my own raw observations and assumptions. I hope it won't upset you at any level .If so please mention good or bad all is welcomed because as a student they will surly make me learn something of value,

In chapter nineteen James Hillman discuss human character with title, 

" character of virtue or character moralized" The first line of second paragraph is 

"character was not to bent to the moral strictures" According to him character was divided into two forms by science and philosophy and pushed to settled among moralists. Then he refers some classical  philosophers and writers who had drawn all kind of black and white characters powerfully who inspired till this day due to what they did whether good or bad. Writer is against of any attempt people try to mould or influence human character. He suggests that let each  

character be unique in it's way and age will reveals it's truth. I understand the James Hillman experienced world when people loved to stay what they were and hardly liked any change in their habits or perspectives because they believed that they will loose their identity and genuinity and i think they were right in their opinion in those early times when human consciousness was on earlier stage of it's evolution as well.

Now in twenty first century when science and psychology has advanced and revealed that everything existing in this universe is "energy" and we see that all forms of energy that serve human life are present here in  "Raw form " and to utilize them as "facilities" we have to work on them to refine and shape so they can adjust in our day to day life without causing any issue to the environment they are put in.

Similarly as we now know that human thoughts are form of "energy" too. We receive this energy as child when come to this world. How to use this energy we learn this throughout our life consciously or unconsciously.Our way to use our "mental energy" shapes our "habits" that goes along with genuine "instincts" and "nature" we born with. This is easy to see in the pattern of Nature that provides perfect circumstances to  "train" this mental energy for it's inhabitants. I believe that "training of our mental energy" was the only thing that made "family" system possible in the pattern of Nature. Parents try hard to make their children "learn" what to do and what not to. Our brain is bundle of raw energy that jumps to learn. It does know that it has to work but has no idea how and what are must and must not. Parents are earlier guardians and guides to protect and show path. But when we grow and take reins of the horse in our own hands we still are ignorant most of things that help us to lead safe healthy life and place us somewhere we feel important and and cared.

We all know that each of us is unique and comes with different perception . Sometimes differences are too big and make it difficult to adjust in society or even family. Human instincts can be good and bad in terms of their harmfulness or harmlessness . It is great to follow our instincts but what if doing so troubles others? For example i am in mood of listening music and it is my right to listen it of course but i want to raise the volume to enjoy more but which hurts my neighbors ,they complain but my hold of my wish is too strong and makes me do some unreasonable things that probably i regret later.

That strong hold of our wishes or what we call "will power" is most beautiful thing but when only we know how to train our "mental energy" and command it by "willpower" ,this makes us different as human  from other species right?

Many people don't agree that they have some harmful habits and skipping them can make their life easy and beautiful. But thankfully that light is reaching to so many hearts and there are so many people who acknowledge that training our brain energy is essential to live healthy and peaceful life that can influence people around them positively. 

Everything we see in life is brought to this present shape after long effort and time whether it is gold or diamond jewelry ,metals ,and numerous things got from underground or things on the ground such as wood and plastic . If i am sitting on this chair so comfortable it is because it has been passing through many processes and procedures to get this shape. Energy is everywhere in raw random form but to make it useful and to benefit from it we have to mould it.

People fear that if they will rearrange their thought system it can destroy their genuine natural gifts such as painting ,poetry ,writing or any other form of art. I don't think so . I speak from my own experience that since i have started to calm and shape my mental energy i can think better . My imagination and my inner strength for writing is stronger ,i can say this because when i compare my newer posts to older one i think newer are more clear ,less emotional and more reasonable or i at least think this way .

I think when we calm our mental energy it gets better and clearer shape which make us do better in life on every level 

What do you say friends ,please share if you have any thought on this topic it i will really appreciate !

blessings to all of you!   

 

We Are Back And I am Thankful For your Kind Visits During My Absence To Your Blogs !

First of all i want to thank you all of you who despite of my long absence (fifty days yes) still kept visiting my blog ,this makes me feel blessed and thankful for having you all as blogger friends! i will be visiting you all since now hopefully!

We got back from our beautiful Islamabad trip on 22 July  Friday morning . As you might know far better than me that whole  Asia is experiencing long spell if rainfall which makes me so happy despite constant absence of power as seeing the environment clean and breathable is deepest desire of my heart. I am thankful for this joyous opportunity by  mother Nature! Me and hubby both fell ill two days before leaving Islamabad but it is hard to find doctor during rains when roads are flooded outside.  Hubby got his first medication today as he found one of the clinics opened. We are being late in keeping our house back to its neat and arranged manner because of sickness but how enough we can thank to our eldest son for his gift of automatic washing machine that  has been proving  itself incredibly helpful during this tough time.  After Eid Ul Adha we visited Kashmir (free part of Kashmir) .It was quick decision by hubby and before only three days before our return date so we had to keep it short .I think the tiredness because of that long journey made us sick later. It took us eight hours almost to reach Muzaffarabad capital of Kashmir we spent next whole day while visiting it's few famous points and set back to Islamabad on the same evening which was exhausting for our age obviously . Though i am feeling speechless when i want to describe the beauty of this heavenly valley dear Friends . River Neelam remains highlight of the whole trip lacing the all curvy dangerous valley. Yes single road warps the hills throughout the way and which makes it bit scary though most of the road is wide enough for vehicles to cross but there are really few places where it gets narrow which provides the risk for rash drivers . Accidents are therefore common specially during rainy  seasons when land sliding is common.We heard about such heart breaking accidents that took place right one day before we arrived there ,a bus fell down in the Neelam river and many people lost their precious lives .Another accident happened the day we returned ,a car slipped in the river with groom and bride and two other ,all four died but two children were saved by authorities miraculously . We saw crown on the way while we were returning who was looking t the place of accident ,some were taking selfies which was beyond my understating. Over all we found the people of Kashmir incredibly kind and helpful in transport and restaurants which was pleasing indeed.  

Sharing some glimpse of our one of the most joyous day in Kashmir. 

the restaurant we visited had beautiful garden area beside river which had swing too ,how can one resist it when surroundings are such magical ,despite of bright sunny day day was cool and breezy ,hubby asked me to sit on swing and when i did he started to push me to swing as it was high and i couldn't push myself by feet .children standing around giggled on this and i joined them smilingly as well. 

 

This was upper Neelam one of the highest point of margalla hills . Below things looked little including zig zag river Neelam. We are standing in the resort where many families were staying for summer holidays 

wherever eyes could see views were breathtaking and captivating ,now i knew why Kashmir was called " a heaven on earth" since always  

Wherever eyes could  see views were breathtaking and captivating. I now knew why Kashmir was called  "heaven on earth" for so long 

hubby insisted for this trip because he wanted to take it when our younger son is still with us ,due to issues regarding constant  rainfall his joining to university is little delayed for orientation at least though classes will start according to schedule in mid August hopefully 

if you can ignore how weak or thin the baby horse is you can appreciate the frame of image taken by my younger son ,like his eldest bro he is nice photographer actually ,whole family of this baby was wandering there in the resort 

i have bought some books from my fav book shop ,i found these while evening when power was off ,i told the shopkeeper about topic i was interested in and he guided me towards where books were racked .

i had started Secret History of the world while i was there and i am finding it very intriguing though lets see what writer actually wants to point out .will share with you all obviously  as soon i finish .

that is all for now .thinking of you all with best wishes and prayful heart!